Saturday, March 21, 2009

WIP's on Parade...

Rivulet awaiting her fasteners, and Duotone Cardi awaiting her sleeves. Cherie has been quite accommodating while I cast on for my Sock Madness socks.

Unfortunately I am going to have to cop to being DQ'd right off the bat. I'm going to finish these, but frankly, I was just too cranky to try my first afterthought heel. I took one look at the instructions and went ahead and knit my gusset heel. Yarn is Malabrigo Sock. So I'll be free to hunt down this pattern here. (At least after I finish up the three sweaters I have waiting for completion.)

In the meantime, if you've had the cuticle issues I've had this last two months - check out Target's Boots boutique. (I know you UK gals have had Boots forever, but it's new to us here in the Midwest USA!) A little over $5 the tube and it smells fantastic and feels lovely and velvety.Do you know what the best thing is about being an "early adopter" of the Kindle? All the free book offers by publishers trying to get their new author in front of readers!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

District Band Festival 2008

So, not only was I watching Hockey last Saturday, I was attending the 2009 District Band Festival. Twice. (Puck at 3:30 and Teen at 7:00). This is last year's finale, but they do this song every year.

Look at this group. Every band student grades 5-12 participates in this concert. They have to do it twice because that is 1400 musicians! Every age group does one or two songs and then they play together in the Finale. Starting with the oldest kids, and then toward the end it slows down (around 3:42) and every darn kid plays in this song. It makes me cry. Every year. There are about a dozen band instructors running around, desperately trying to control the tempo - I love it. What an opportunity for all of these kid to learn to play an instrument!

Friday, March 13, 2009

So. Did You Know I Like Hockey?

Yup.

Guess who is in their own little heaven this week? State Tournaments, WCHA Playoffs, even a little bit of Wild (sad as that's been). I have lived in the Minneapolis Metro area all of my life. My High School faced Edina in many sports, and their hockey "dynasty" is a fact I've known of all my life - and wow! They got beat last night - holy cow! Our high school won their first round game - barely - with a contested goal in overtime. I can hardly wait to watch them play Blaine tonight in the Semi-Final round.

Mini-rant: Okay, so what's up Star Tribune? EP won that game, why is there a huge photo of Hill-Murray? Because the H-M coach had to boot 4 Seniors this year because they misbehaved? Seriously? Why are we giving them so much attention for DOING THE RIGHT THING! Nobody should be surprised, we should expect it. Yea, the remaining kids had to work harder, but they LOST! Where are the pictures of the winners? And the poor kid who had to wait 8 minutes because they were determined to try to make that winning goal not count - sheesh! Also? If it had been EP who had to boot the kids, I guarantee people would be a lot less kind about it. All right, back to my normal cheerful banter...

Lots of knitting going on while I'm watching the games. Remember this pile of yarn?

I've cast on the Duotone Cardi and I already love how it's looking:

This is the collar and the beginning of the back. A very cool looking stitch pattern - no? By the way, the first picture is more accurate for color.

Here is that sock I started last week.

Now that I'm knitting so much on sweaters, the socks are not progressing nearly as quickly. It should be interesting to see what happens to me when NaKniSweMoDo collides directly with Sock Madness. I hope there are no fatalities.

Well, Little Falls is down 0-1 to Breck - I need to go watch some hockey.

The yarn is Miss Babs wool - this may've been the first shipment from way back when, when I was in the Woolgirl Sock Yarn club the first time 'round. I'm not sure they even carry this weight any longer. The color is called Waterfall. I had to take the photo quickly because Teen is waiting for these.

And finally, Rivulet has sleeves! Button bands and blocking to finish - we're looking at another incoming snowstorm, so possibly tomorrow! Cherie was glad to have the sweater, she thinks it's rather chilly standing by the window.

Also? I can't believe that there aren't more Rivulet projects on Ravelry (there's only nine right now) - this is one of those sweaters that looks much more complicated than it actually is. Knit top down in one giant piece, sleeves afterwards and you can easily make any changes along the way that you like. There's one on Ravelry that looks about four inches longer than mine - she knit seed instead of garter stitch - I really like what she's done. I wish I'd thought of adding the extra stitches and knitting my button band at the same time - hate doing it afterwards!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

My New Friend:

So - remember this cardi I showed you? It's even better than you can see in this picture from the Yarn Forward website. I thought I remembered what Copine meant, but I had to look it up, and it means "friend". So really, I will have two new friends! Mrs. Pao from Mumblings sent Deb and I copies of Yarn Forward (plus some yummy goodies and a couple of perfectly lovely tote bags! I kept the Toile. The return package is in the works as we speak!)

So - don't you think this would make a lovely Copine:

Now I have to go because I am listening to the EP vs Tonka High School Playoff Hockey game....

Monday, March 02, 2009

Oh Baby! (part 80 grillion...)

I promised these pictures a long time ago, but then my mom and sis ordered my new model for my birthday, so I was waiting for her arrival. Isn't she bright and cheery? I'm thinking her name should be Cherry.

Regardless, this is my much-worn Baby Cables and Big Ones Too sweater that I finished back in December.This sweater is going to be my guideline for fit for all future sweaters. I wear a tee-shirt under neath because it's a (nicely) lightweight knit.

Note: This turned out much better than I expected. The yarn was a little odd, but I didn't pay much for it so I guess it's hard to complain.

WIP's:

Rivulet is flying along - I have one sleeve and the front ribbing to finish - it's a race to the end of the yarn.Cherry was happy to help me decide if it was long enough. Knitgrrl actually sent me the pattern on my Kindle, but I will be darned if I can figure out how to access it.

Today I am having a little knitting soiree with Miss T, Miss Think and Miss Tight (Hmmm, I think that makes me Ms. Stairs). Anyway, Miss T excels at showing the piles of knitted blobs, so in the spirit of knitterhood I am sharing my Gathered Pullover. I've reached the shoulder shaping on the back and am hoping this sweater will make me happy like Oh Baby has.

About Me

I am a 49 year old SAHM (going on 9 years now). I have two teenagers, and a wonderful DH who underwrites this whole project************************
My childhood:
Halfway down the stairs Is a stair Where I sit. There isn't any Other stair Quite like It. I'm not at the bottom, I'm not at the top; So this is the stair Where I always Stop. Halfway up the stairs Isn't up, And isn't down. It isn't in the nursery, It isn't in the town. And all sorts of funny thoughts Run round my head: "It isn't really Anywhere! It's somewhere else Instead!" a.a. Milne